


A View of You

by ZYMoon127



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, M/M, Science Fiction, Ten is whipped, Virtual Reality, johnten, this is my first AO3 fic idk how to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28811070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZYMoon127/pseuds/ZYMoon127
Summary: Ten was certain he could visit the cheery bookstore worker with ridiculously nice teeth through his virtual reality satellite map app without any issues.  Ten could see Johnny, Johnny couldn’t see him. All was well!Turns out that wasn’t the case.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 14
Kudos: 41
Collections: Challenge #4 — Awaken The World





	A View of You

It went like this; at exactly eight PM, Ten Lee would toss down whatever useless university assignment he was working on to seat himself on his second hand gaming chair, prop his legs up on the table he used as a dumping ground for anything he couldn’t be bothered to put away properly, grab his controllers, and finally, slip the VR device over his eyes. It had become a routine part of his day, a time where he could escape the mundane nature of a failing student’s life to fall into the much more exciting world of virtual reality.

Ten had been a bit of a snob towards VR at first, he’d laughed at his friends who were always walking around their empty living rooms with clunky plastic goggles strapped to their faces, and dismissed their love for the virtual world as a childish obsession after playing a few excruciatingly boring cooking games with them.

Despite the dullness of the activities they enjoyed, Ten’s past self figured it would be good to find out what was so amazing about it. So, he had searched around the app store looking for something he might fancy. In no time he found it, the app that sucked him into the world of VR; NCMaps.

The NCMaps app was basically like Google Earth but in real time. What you did was select a location you wanted to visit, and the app would virtually take you there. In NCMaps everything you saw and heard was happening in real time, and you could float by unsuspecting people undetected. It was created for checking out places you wanted to visit and figuring out directions.

Yangyang, Ten’s VR fanatic friend, claimed Ten’s liking towards the app was a reflection of his stalkerish tendencies, which was far from the truth. For one thing, NCMaps only let you wander around public places that allowed people to visit them on VR. Secondly, had no interest in spying on random unsuspecting citizens. Most of the time they seemed too boring for him to even spare a second glance at them.

The maps app was the only thing he used his VR equipment for, none of that weirdly domestic stuff his friends wasted hours on. Ten found a large amount of enjoyment moving around random cities he knew he’d never be able to visit in real life. So much that to prevent himself from spiralling too deep into the realm of virtual sightseeing, he set a timer that would allow him one hour on the app before he had to do something useful.  


Today, Ten was in a not so adventurous mood. He typed into the search bar a location he’d visited several times. After randomly dropping by some American City in his free time, Ten had come across a street that he took an instant liking to. The place was always changing its decorations and getting new shops left right and centre, he felt a strange obligation to check up on it every once and awhile. He liked to think of it as his virtual home. But the biggest reason Ten found himself revisiting this street was not because of the street itself, but rather one of the people who lived on it; a man who worked as a bookstore assistant.

Mr. Bookstore Worker was one of the few notable people Ten met, or really, watched, on his “travels.” Ten wasn’t a crusty old creep, he simply enjoyed hanging around the bookstore to hear what the jolly worker had to say. It was down to luck alone that Ten fortuitously walked right into the check out desk after a misclick when he was walking down the street. Now, Ten preferred to keep a decent distance from the people he came across, only every now and then he zoned out and found himself in the middle of an old granny who walked where he was loitering without him noticing. So it was quite a shock when Ten accidentally zoomed right into the bookstore assistant’s face and gave himself such a fright he fell off his chair.

Ten waited for the street to load on his screen. Gradually, a familiar scene spread out before him. It was seven AM where the bookstore was, things were just starting to open up, Ten’s favourite staff member was helping his friend bring in some deliveries. Ten was actually well aware of Mr. Bookstore Worker real name, he’d gotten an unwanted close up of his name tag when he’d unintentionally walked into him, it just felt wrong to use his name when the guy had absolutely know idea some miserable person with friends too involved with their home ownership fantasies to keep him company was visiting him though NCMAps every week. Okay, maybe Ten was kind of a creep and maybe he kind of had a thing going on for Mr. Bookstore Worker. Maybe.

A group of younger students Ten had come to know as people who regularly studied at the bookstore appeared soon after the two were finished with the delivery. Though they could probably do all their assignments on their fancy university laptops, they often chose to study the traditional way, with physical copies of books and worksheets. Technology experienced such a boom in usage over the last hundred years that things like books which seemed to be a dying breed went back into fashion. Of course, the advanced technology people grew up relying on stayed, but things were now being done in person more. Ten enjoyed having stuff like VR while also being able to pop down to a store and buy a hard copy of a book he could throw at Yangyang when he was singing too loudly.

Mr. Bookstore Worker floated over from the building’s back entrance to talk with his friends. Ten felt an immediate surge of happiness when his smiling face came into view. There was something about the man that brought everyone he came in contact with immense joy. He drew people in like magnets; Ten included. The pull he created was one of the reasons Ten kept coming back to the bookstore.

“Yeah, studies are going great, actually. I’ve landed myself an internship at a major tech company,” he said to one of his regulars, a scruffy boy named Mark. “I guess my hard work has paid off! I’ve already learnt a lot. How’s things going with that music production course you’re doing?”

Mark shrugged and gave his friend a half-hearted “I really can’t be thinking about this so early in the morning” answer that earned him a light scolding about enthusiasm.  
Mr. Bookstore Worker and Mark were such a friendly duo, Ten failed to suppress a grin when the elder pulled Mark to his chest to ruffle his messy hair affectionately. They had the type of relationship Ten wished he had. Whenever he tried hugging Yangyang the boy would hiss at him like a feral cat. Mark and the bookstore assistant joked around for a while, unfortunately, Ten’s English was not the best it could be, much of their jokes went over his head. Perhaps they were saying things only a resident of Chicago would find funny.

“Alright, more people are coming in, goodbye!” Mr. Bookstore Worker chuckled after a good twenty minutes of joking. When he pulled away, Mark pouted cutely. Ten wished he could reach through the screen to pinch his puffy cheeks. Sadly, to do so he would have to either wait for teleportation to be invented, or book himself a long ass flight from Bangkok to Chicago.

Ten moved his controller so he changed direction and followed the bookstore assistant into the store. At first it had seemed like an invasion of privacy to purposely enter it even though the place permitted NCMaps users to go inside. It took a few strolls down the street for Ten to work up the courage to intentionally enter it. After the first time, visiting the bookstore became a more normal event.

He slipped through the door just as it was beginning to close, entering the world of cream pages and giant shelves. If the maps app allowed you to smell things Ten knew he would’ve been hit by a wave of that rich scent new books had. The store was decorated with golden ornaments, artistic posters advertising the store’s latest offers, and mini glass statues that reflected the soft light from the fixtures above. Ten zoomed in close to admire the meticulous decorations. Mr. Bookstore Worker did say he had a love for fashionable things.

Ten watched the man prepare some textbook orders with his usual radiant smile. When he was finished, Ten followed him behind the counter. He hummed a somewhat familiar tune as he tossed a dauntingly tall stack of papers onto the table behind him.

“How the hell is he so smiley every hour of the day?” Ten wondered aloud, how could one cultivate the motivation to wear such a cheerful grin displaying a full row of obnoxiously white teeth when there was no one near enough to even see it?

“I don’t know, some article I read said smiling makes you feel happier, so I try to do it as often as I can, you?”

One of Ten’s controllers slipped from his grasp, it fell to the hardwood floor with a nasty crack. Did Mr. Bookstore Worker just answer his question? He was pretty certain he just heard an explicit answer to his thoughts.

“E-excuse me?” Ten spluttered. “Did you just talk to me?”

A rush of pure panic rushed through Ten’s pot noodle filled body. If what he had just thought happened then there was a chance Mr. Bookstore Worker had seen him before. God, what if he saw Ten zoom up on his face the first time he went to Chicago? If this happened then he’d have to roll out and never see his favourite bookstore worker again! For a solid fifteen seconds Ten prayed to every form of higher power that what he just thought happened was an illusion his extremely sleep deprived mind created.

As Ten malfunctioned, Mr. Bookstore Worker’s impossibly perfect grin grew wider than a grin should ever be allowed to grow. “I did just talk to you, you’ve been hanging around here for a while, may I be of any assistance?” he asked politely.

Ten continued to blink in pure shock. Maybe the man could somehow see his freakishly lifelike avatar standing in the store. Ten had used the third person option on the maps app a few times, he knew how realistic the avatar looked. If he left quickly there was a good chance Mr. Bookstore Worker wouldn’t realize the figure in front of him was actually a computer generated model. Ten gulped and fumbled around for the escape button on his control. There was no way he was going through with this conversation, that was, if he even could.

“Hey, no need to be nervous, I’m a friendly guy, at least, I hope so. The name’s Johnny. Don’t be shy to spill your many life woes, I shall listen,” said Johnny (it must be okay to use his name now he’d introduced himself).

Ten swallowed thickly and adjusted his microphone, he had no idea how Johnny was able to hear him through NCMaps, no one else had ever been able to.

“I was just searching for a good fiction novel,” he gulped awkwardly. “I like comedies.”

Johnny nodded thoroughly in response, he could definitely hear him. Ten cursed himself for not properly reading up about NCMaps before diving headfirst into using it so often. He couldn't even come up with a plausible explanation for how his words could reach Johnny’s ears. Before Ten could think too hard into this, Johnny reached out to grab what must’ve been Ten’s avatar’s wrist. Ten shuddered as the most peculiar feeling passed over him, it was as if a cool wind was tickling his wrist, he looked down at it slowly then froze in horror when he realized Johnny's hand had just passed right through his flesh and bone.

The man’s eyes widened. Ten could practically see the gears working in his mind to comprehend what happened.

Silence.

Suddenly, Johnny threw his hands in the air and cheered. “I worked! It worked! It is official, Johnny Suh has succeeded at life!” Johnny’s screams were so loud Ten cringed away from the speaker on his desk, ears ringing madly. Johnny apologized several times before ushering Ten to a storage room filled with orders away from the counter.

“You must be visiting through NCMaps!” he exclaimed. “This may sound crazy, but I was just telling my friend Mark about how I landed myself an internship at a tech company. Well, that company deals with the maps app and the project I was assigned was to help develop these contact lenses that allow you to see VR user’s avatars! My friend did the same sort of thing with audio.” Johnny gestured to his eyes and a small earpiece resembling an earbud in one ear. So that explained it.

It was just Ten’s luck that the man he decided to secretly hang around was someone developing a way to see VR avatars with a friend who made a device that allowed you to hear them. Ten didn’t know what to say, he was surprised Johnny hadn’t yelled at him for his stalkerish behaviour. It seemed the man was too excited that his lenses worked to even care about that aspect of the situation.

“Look, I’m really sorry I’ve been a creep,” Ten apologized. “I think it’s time I got going now.”

This situation was rapidly depleting Ten’s already small supply of brain cells. It would be easier to leave the app and go to bed like he should’ve done the moment Johnny noticed him. But Johnny wasn’t having any of that, he once again reached out to take Ten’s avatar’s hand, “What do you mean, a creep? You’re too cute for a creep. I mean, you could be a sixty year old man totally faking it, but you don’t sound like one.”

Ten was grateful Johnny couldn’t see the flush creeping across his cheeks, this man was way too friendly for his own good.

“Let me ask you one question, have you been here through maps before?” Johnny inquired earnestly.

Ten fiddled with his controller again, groaning when his bright green nail caught on one of the buttons, “Uh, a few times. I first visited the store a few months ago. Listen, I’m really really sorry.”

“Aww! I’ve got a secret admirer! I think you'll be happy to know I’ve only started using lenses this week, so I wouldn’t know if you’ve been checking me out all this time. Damn, I take it as a compliment that you find me interesting enough to hang around for months. You might be my most loyal customer! Don’t stress over the creepiness thing, I allow NCMaps users to go in here anyways, I just never expected any would. Plus, you will never beat Mark at being creepy, he literally followed the guy he likes for a whole week.”

At this point Ten’s face was tomato red, “I-I didn’t say I come here every day! Just once a week to de-stress. I never guessed you would ever catch me!”

Johnny’s laughter was loud and solid, he tried patting Ten’s back only to laugh even harder when his hand went straight through the avatar. It was clear he was finding this whole ordeal highly entertaining. Well, at least he wasn’t angry. If someone turned out to be watching Ten for months through NCMAps he would probably explode with rage.

“This feels like something from a film, wherein the lovestruck female protagonist, too shy to approach her crush, an extremely handsome student working at a not so handsome bookstore, settles for watching him from afar, only for her crush to find out about it one fateful day! I love it!” Johnny squealed, he was like a teenage girl who finally got to meet her idol. Ten couldn’t hold back the giggles bubbling in his throat. And that brought him to the second reason he kept coming back to the bookstore. Johnny was cute.

Perhaps Ten found him absolutely adorable. Adorable to the point where he was moments away from tossing off his headset and screaming. Speaking to him was so much better than watching him from afar with that nagging feeling of guilt.  
“I guess most people would be aghast at the notion of someone secretly watching them,” Johnny mused. “As a punishment you must tell me how you found out about this place. This bookstore isn’t exactly famous.”

There was no going back now. Ten started at the very beginning, telling him how he wanted nothing more than to understand the appeal of VR and ended up with an obsession with NCMaps. He explained how he’d accidentally walked into the bookstore (leaving out the part about zooming in on Johnny’s face) and that he took comfort in returning to it. The entire time Johnny listened intently with the corners of his lips pulled upwards in amusement.

He was enjoying this way too much.

Just as Ten finished with the story, there was a loud knock on the storage room door.

“Johnny, you dead? I need your help!” shouted one of the store assistants.

“Yeah, I’m coming!” Johnny yelled back, he pulled a pen out from his apron pocket and grabbed the first piece of paper he could find, then scribbled a few things on it before handing it to Ten’s avatar, laughing when it dropped to the dusty grey floor.

The volume of his voice dropped so only Ten could hear him. “Gotta go now, it was lovely talking to you. Make sure to screenshot that,” he said with a sly wink. With that, Johnny disappeared from the storage room and Ten’s one hour timer went off.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing a 3k word fic was definitely a challenge, but a fun one! Thank you to the amazing ALW mods for hosting the fest and you for reading! I hope you enjoyed <3 Ps sorry the end was a little rushed 😅


End file.
